


Thirty-Six Roses

by DarkCellar



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren Fluff, Coming Out, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluffy Ending, Friendship/Love, Gay Male Character, I Ship It, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kylux - Freeform, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Secret Crush, Short & Sweet, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Young Armitage Hux, Young Ben Solo, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 05:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17781479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCellar/pseuds/DarkCellar
Summary: Usually Valentine’s Day isn’t a big deal for Hux ... but this one is different. Every single class period, Hux has been receiving flowers and notes from an anonymous source ... and he’s not quite sure how to react, to the idea that somebody might actually have feelings for him.





	Thirty-Six Roses

**Author's Note:**

> <33333 Happy Valentine’s Day! <33333

_You don’t smile very often, but when you do, you rock my world back on its heels._

Was it possible for Hux’s face to become any redder than it already was? He didn’t think so. He had been carrying with him a permanent heavy blush since first period, when the first note and flower had arrived.

Armitage Hux had broken up with his ‘boyfriend’ (and boyfriend was a very loose term; the two only went out for about 4 weeks, after all) several months back, right after the start of the new semester. His close friends expected him to be hurting over it, but he really wasn’t. His ‘ex’ had treated him somewhat poorly, and it was an overwhelming relief to be free of him. Hux had spent the past few months enjoying himself, going out with friends, involving himself in his after-school clubs, and going on the occasional date. Nothing very serious came from these excursions, though, and Hux was fine with this.

He often thought to himself how fortunate he was, how blessed, that he attended a school that was as open and accepting as his. Deciding to come out as gay had been a difficult decision for him, but one that he was sure was right. He knew that many places wouldn’t be accepting of this, and Hux would have run the risk of being ostracized, or bullied, or worse.

He still remembered the day he had come out to his core group of friends. It had been during the summer, between sophomore and junior year, and the four of them had been sitting on Hux’s couch, the lights dimmed, watching a scary movie. Phasma, the only girl of the group, and who was a baby about all things horror, was alternating between using Ben’s and Mitaka’s shirts to cover her eyes.

During a lull in the movie, Hux cleared his throat, and said, “I’m gay.”

Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at him in surprise.

“I came out to my dad last week. You guys are my best friends, so I’m coming out to you, too.”

More silence.

“Right now is your opportunity to say something, or leave or whatever, if you think that’s like, gross.”

More silence, and then Mitaka said, “It’s disappointing that you don’t hold up to the stereotype of gay guys dressing good. Fuck, you’ve been wearing that same stupid hoodie for like, two weeks, now.”

Hux smiled, as that lighthearted comment had relieved him so much. “Okay, I’ll take that under note. Anything else?”

Ben put his arms around him and squeezed hard. “Unless you become like, a serial killer, nothing’s gonna make me stop loving you. Okay?”

Phasma put her arms around Hux from the other side, and she kissed Hux’s cheek.

Phasma’s reaction was the one he had been least worried over. Hux had known Phasma since kindergarten, as they lived across the street from one another and their mothers had been best friends. She was a gorgeous girl, tall and slender, with ivory skin and white-blonde hair. She and Hux had even tried giving dating a spell, calling themselves a couple back in the seventh and eight grades. It was ironically this during period of time that Hux began to realize that he just wasn’t interested in girls, in a romantic sense. Before high school began, he sat her down and had a heartfelt talk with her, ending with a mutual break-up. HE didn’t know it, but it was during their ‘relationship’ that SHE started to suspect that he might be gay. She never confronted him with it, as she knew he’d need to face up to it and own it on his own; which is what he finally did that summer night, a year later.

“I hope you’re ready, Red, because I have a huge list of guys I want to set you up with.”

Hux felt like he might cry, but he held it back. “So ... just to be clear, you’re all still my friends?”

“I dunno, man,” said Mitaka, “Would a friend let another friend die of hunger because some asshole whose name rhymes with Pen ate literally ALL of the cheese popcorn?”

“I bought it, bitch!”

“No, I bought it,” Phasma contradicted him. “You just went in the store for me!”

“But then I paid for it!”

“With MY money!”

“Same thing!”

They continued to argue back and forth, until Mitaka told them both to shut up. And that was it. Fast forward to Valentine’s Day of junior year, and Hux was surprised during his first period English class; someone had anonymously sent him a rose. The school offered it during the previous week, where people could pay for the pretty red flowers to be delivered to the person of their choosing, on Valentine’s day. They could be sent secretly, or with a little note attached.

Hux’s name had been called during that first batch of morning deliveries, and it took him completely off-guard. And the note, while it didn’t identify the sender, had contained a sweet little message:

_Your eyes are the most beautiful blue I’ve ever seen in my life. Looking into them is like staring into the ocean._

Now here it was, 6th period lunch, and the flowers had been coming all day. And increasing. First period he had received the one rose, second period, two, and so on.

And the notes!

 

_Your hair is the warmth that mocks the sun._

_Your lips look like silk; I’d die to press them against my own._

_Your delicious scent always makes me feel like swooning._

 

“This is so exciting; you’ve got a secret admirer!”, Phasma exclaimed now, as she dug into her plate of fries.

“Or it’s just someone playing a prank,” Mitaka suggested, stealing a fry from her plate.

“Seems like a lot of time and effort to go through, to play a prank this elaborate,” Phasma told him, shaking her head. “Come on, help me figure out who it is!”

“Guys, you don’t have to —“

“I bet it’s Poe, the kid in mine and Hux’s lit class,” Mitaka surmised, taking several long swallows of his Coke. “I swear every time we have to partner up for something, he breaks his neck trying to get to Hux.”

“No he doesn’t!”, Hux exclaimed, blushing. He thought Poe was a funny person, but he hoped it wasn’t him sending him the flowers. He wasn’t interested in being anything other than friends with him. “He just does that because we live close to each other, and it’d make meeting up for homework easier.”

“Oooh, I bet it’s Finn, from Gym,” Phasma said, stealing a napkin from Hux’s tray. She wiped the ketchup from her lips and said, teasingly, “This last week we’ve been doing partner exercises. He must have fallen in love with you after standing on your feet when you do sit-ups, and watching you go up and down beneath him.”

“Wow, I need to come to your guys’ gym period. Mine isn’t anywhere near as sexual,” Mitaka said, also teasing as he waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

“What’s sexual?”

Ben had walked up, after finally having gotten out of the long cafeteria line. Ben was on the school’s weight-lifting team, and he always ate a great deal, in order to ‘keep up his muscle’, as he put it. His tray was loaded down with pizza, burgers, and a mountain of fries.

Phasma explained to him about Hux’s flower brigade, and how they were trying to guess who the sender was.

“Probably some homely-looking dude who doesn’t get that you’re out of his league,” Ben commented, before taking a big bite of his burger. Ketchup and tomato leaked out of the bun and onto the very top of his collar, which he quickly wiped away.

“‘Out of his league’?”, Hux repeated, confused. “I’m not out of anybody’s league, Ben.”

If anybody was ‘out of anyone’s league’, it was Ben himself. Hux had been friends with him since fifth grade, when they played rock-paper-scissors over the last available swing on the playground. Ben was smart, quiet, and, in Hux’s opinion, incredibly handsome. His soft dark hair was the kind of thing that shampoo commercials would showcase, and his eyes were the deepest, warmest brown Hux had ever encountered. The phrase “old soul” was used a lot concerning the tall boy, and it suited him perfectly.

Since Hux had known Ben, there had never once been a shortage of girls chasing after him. But, aside from a few (mostly group) dates here and there, Ben had never truly shown interest in somebody else. Hux often wondered what his type was, or if he even HAD a type.

“Exactly,” Mitaka said to Ben now, while agreeing with Hux’s observation, smirking, “Don’t gas him up like that, or he’ll go around thinking he can just pull anybody he wants!”

“Oh, please; if ANYBODY at this table has that power, it’s clearly Phasma,” Ben said, grinning.

Now it was Phasma’s turn to blush, as she looked down at her tray. “Yeah, okay,” she said, tearing one of her napkins into neat little strips. “I sure as fuck don’t see MY hands loaded down with roses, like this guy,” she said, pointing at Hux.

Hux just grinned at that. Unbeknownst to her, the three boys had gotten together and each bought her 5 roses, making a total of 15 roses that would be delivered to her by 8th period. On the card, they had written “To a Goddess, from The Three Stooges.” He couldn’t wait to see her reaction later.

But it turned out, he wouldn’t be able to see her face, because when he was in his own 8th period class, he got his final batch of flowers, and the note that came with these said,

_I have so much more to say to you, that I want to say to your face. Please meet me by the lockers on the lower-level, near the art rooms, after school. I’ll have a blue barrette in my hair._

Normally he’d either walk home with Phasma, or the two of them (when they had the change) would catch the bus with Ben and Mitaka. But today, Hux decided to lie and make up an excuse, and send the three of them home without him. If they knew he was planning on meeting whoever was sending him flowers, they’d all insist on being there for it. And Hux didn’t want that. What if it was someone they all knew, that didn’t want to be revealed to the others just yet. Or what if it was someone Hux didn’t like, and had to let down easy? No matter what the case, he certainly didn’t need an audience.

He stopped in the bathroom after the final classes were out. He closed himself off in a stall and sent a group text to the others saying that he needed to stay after school to make up a test he had missed when he was sick a day last week. Then he let himself out and set his phone down on the sink. He took a good look at himself in the mirror.

“Whoever likes me must need glasses”, he said, softly, to himself. He didn’t see a single thing being reflected in the glass that he liked. The pale skin, the freckles, the red hair that he couldn’t stand ...

Before he could psych himself out any more, he snapped out of it, and got to work. He was glad he had thought to bring all of his shower gear from gym with him. He opened his backpack and brought out his roll-on deodorant, his little bottle of cologne, and his comb, setting to work making himself a bit cleaner and more presentable. Afterwards, he triggered several blasts of breath freshener down his throat, coughing a little in the process.

Then he took out all of his roses, which he had been carefully storing in the long empty side pockets of his backpack, and, armed with them, left the room and made his way to the lockers.

And waited.  
And waited.

 

After about ten minutes had passed, his heart began to sink.

 _What if Mitaka was right?,_ he asked himself dejectedly. _What if someone WAS just playing a prank on me?_

There weren’t many students left in the school now, and it had gotten so silent that Hux could hear the soft vibration his phone made in his pocket. He pulled it out, and couldn’t help but smile: Phasma had replied in the group text with almost a full  
page of hearts and heart-eyes emojis. She also informed Hux that she had given Ben and Mitaka ‘endless kisses’, and told Hux to prepare himself, because when he got home, he was next.

 

“I guess she liked the roses,” he said out-loud to himself.

“She did,” said a voice from behind, making Hux jump, startled. He whirled around; Ben was standing behind him, smirking. “I would have gotten here sooner, but Phasma was hugging and kissing me so long that I couldn’t get away.”

Hux tilted his head, confused. “Why are you here?”

Ben’s cheeks turned a little pink, and he dug in his pocket, holding out something small. Hux gasped; it was a bent-up little blue barrette.

“Ben ... what ...”

“I know I said I’d wear this, but, again, Phasma ... the girl doesn’t know her own strength. She hugged me so hard this flew out of my hair, and then someone stepped on it. And you should see Mitaka; I could actually hear his ribs crack. He —“

“Ben! Are you serious right now?! Do you mean ... YOU were the one who sent me all this??”

Ben nodded, that blush still on his face as he looked down at the floor. “I did. I know it was kinda lame, but I couldn’t think of any other way to tell you that I like you. I like you quite a bit, in fact. I have for a long time.”

Hux leaned heavily against the lockers, flabbergasted. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing right now. In the first place, Ben had never given ANY indication that he was into boys. To find out not only that, but that he was apparently into Hux himself?

Hux was quiet for so long, trying to process everything, that Ben took his silence as rejection.

“I’m sorry,” he fairly whispered, his head bowed so low that his hair completely covered his eyes. “I knew this was a bad idea. Look, can we just pretend that this didn’t happen? Because no matter what, I don’t want to lose you being my friend, because —“

Hux leapt at him and threw both arms around him, driving Ben back against the lockers.

“I can’t believe you did this for me! The flowers, but especially the notes, were just so ... so SWEET!”, he exclaimed, hugging Ben even tighter. “I’m sorry this is sounding really stupid but it’s like my brain froze because I can’t wrap my head around this! I can’t —“

Hux was completely blown away when Ben interrupted him by putting his warm hands on Hux’s cheeks, pulling him close, and kissing him. Ben’s lips were obscenely soft, and they had such a sweet taste that it was almost like candy. When he pulled away, Hux felt breathless and exhilarated.

“You have no idea, how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Ben confessed, a shy smile on his face.

“W-what about Phasma? And Mitaka?”

“No, I haven’t wanted to kiss them.”

“No! I mean, do they know? Are they gonna freak out if we show up to school tomorrow holding hands?”

Ben’s eyes lit up eagerly at that, and he grabbed Hux’s hand now, as if to practice. “I get to hold your hand?!”

“Well, that’s typically what happens when you date someone, isn’t it?”

“Holy shit, you’re willing to date me?!”

Hux rolled his eyes and smiled. “Well, first, you have to actually ask me out. But answer my question, what about Phasma and Mitaka?”

“They know. I’ve been talking to both of them since like, before Christmas, asking them how to ask you out. The roses were Mitaka’s idea, the notes Phasma’s.”

“So ... earlier today, when they were teasing me about who maybe sent me the flowers, they both knew it was you?”

“Yup.”

“That’s ... that’s ...”

“I had to make them swear to keep it a secret, because I didn’t want you to know it was me, in case I chickened out and decided not to meet up you today.”

“Why would you chicken out?”

“Are you kidding? Because ... because LOOK at you! You’re hot, you’re smart, you’re sweet, you’re funny, and I ... well ...”

Hux threw his arms around him again, squeezing the tall boy as hard as he could. Hux felt a bit embarrassed; he could feel that he was shaking, and he knew that in a few moments, he would start crying. Then a bit of moisture trickled down his cheek and he laughed shakily, separating himself from Ben to wipe the errant tear away.

“Guess it’s too late for that,” he mumbled to himself. To Ben, he said,

“Come on. You’re coming home with me. We’re going to order pizza and watch one of those terrifying movies you like.”

He began walking down the hallway. Ben stood and stared at him a moment, then hurried after him, a beautifully huge smile on his face.

“Wait!”, he said once he’d caught up, “I thought I was the one who was supposed to ask you out!”

“You can do it at the end of the movie. And then after we have that date, I’ll ask YOU out, and we’ll repeat that until we get sick of each other.”

“So ... basically you’re saying this will never end?”

Hux stopped walking, smiled, leaned up, and kissed Ben’s cheek. “So you’re not just sweet and handsome, you’re also smart. What a catch.”

Ben blushed, then took Hux’s hand as the redhead pulled him out the door and into the beginning of their future.


End file.
